Your American brainworms are showing. Much of the world doesn’t tip and is better off for it. In no sensible worldview is a gratuity, basically a bribe, something “owed” to the server (not to mention the fact that servers aren’t the only ones involved in the product).
There’s something owed to the server- a living wage, but that’s between the staff and employer. Customers have nothing to do with it, and there is no ethical consumption to begin with (not to say that there cannot be “more ethical” forms of consumption- but let’s not kid ourselves, tipping does not factor whatsoever into that equation). A product has a price, and that’s how it works- anything more is a bribe, not an entitlement. Do you “owe a tip” to every other underpaid worker you pass by or of whom you occupy a moment’s worth of their time? The notion of “screwing over” someone by not coughing up the customary bribe is completely and utterly laughable. American culture being a- perhaps irrecoverable- dumpster fire doesn’t change anything in that sense.
I find contentious threads like this fascinating, for one thing you can really see who here is American and who isn’t based on their deeply culturally ingrained views on this issue.
Your American brainworms are showing. Much of the world doesn’t tip and is better off for it. In no sensible worldview is a gratuity, basically a bribe, something “owed” to the server (not to mention the fact that servers aren’t the only ones involved in the product).
There’s something owed to the server- a living wage, but that’s between the staff and employer. Customers have nothing to do with it, and there is no ethical consumption to begin with (not to say that there cannot be “more ethical” forms of consumption- but let’s not kid ourselves, tipping does not factor whatsoever into that equation). A product has a price, and that’s how it works- anything more is a bribe, not an entitlement. Do you “owe a tip” to every other underpaid worker you pass by or of whom you occupy a moment’s worth of their time? The notion of “screwing over” someone by not coughing up the customary bribe is completely and utterly laughable. American culture being a- perhaps irrecoverable- dumpster fire doesn’t change anything in that sense.
I find contentious threads like this fascinating, for one thing you can really see who here is American and who isn’t based on their deeply culturally ingrained views on this issue.